Three-dimensional game

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional version of the popular Sudoku game is disclosed which may include a game board having a plurality of two-dimensional matrices disposed thereon. Each of the two-dimensional matrices may have a plurality of positions for entering solutions. The game board may further specify an ordered layering for the plurality of the two-dimensional matrices such that the plurality of two-dimensional matrices may be conceptualized as a three-dimensional structure. Correct solutions for the positions of the two-dimensional matrices must be satisfied in three-dimensions in accordance with the three-dimensional structure.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/109,755, filed Oct. 30, 2009, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety, including but not limited to thoseportions that specifically appear hereinafter, the incorporation byreference being made with the following exception: In the event that anyportion of the above-referenced application is inconsistent with thisapplication, this application supercedes said above-referencedapplication.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND 1. The Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates generally to a games, and moreparticularly, but not necessarily entirely, to games played inthree-dimensions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent froma consideration of the subsequent detailed description presented inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a three-dimensional game according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a “stack” of the three-dimensional game depicted inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a “face” of the three-dimensional game depicted inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates a “slice” of the three-dimensional game depicted inFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles inaccordance with the disclosure, reference will now be made to theembodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will beused to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that nolimitation of the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. Anyalterations and further modifications of the inventive featuresillustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles ofthe disclosure as illustrated herein, which would normally occur to oneskilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure,are to be considered within the scope of the disclosure claimed.

It must be noted that, as used in this specification and the appendedclaims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referentsunless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In describing andclaiming the present disclosure, the following terminology will be usedin accordance with the definitions set out below. As used herein, theterms “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” “characterized by,” andgrammatical equivalents thereof are inclusive or open-ended terms thatdo not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.

Applicant has discovered a three-dimensional game as will now bedescribed. Referring now to FIG. 1, there is depicted a game layout forproviding a three-dimensional Sudoku game. The game layout comprisesnine two-dimensional Sudoku puzzles, labeled A-I, laid out individually.Also shown is a three dimensional representation of the Sudoku puzzles,A-I, in a stacked configuration. The stacked configuration of the Sudokupuzzles, A-I, assists a player in conceptualizing the three-dimensionalnature of the game played with the Sudoku puzzles, A-I.

Each of the Sudoku puzzles, A-I, may be a traditional Sudoku puzzle andmay comprise nine rows, nine columns, and nine quadrants. As withtraditional Sudoku, the objective the game is to fill all the blanksquares of each puzzle, A-I, with the correct entries. The entries mayinclude any symbol, including letters, numbers, or a combination ofboth. As in traditional Sudoku, there are three simple constraints tofollow, assuming that the entries are numbers. First, every row of apuzzle, A-I, must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Second,every column of a puzzle, A-I, must include all digits 1 through 9 inany order. Third, every three by three quadrant of a puzzle, A-I, mustinclude all digits 1 through 9 in any order. In addition, a player alsohas to solve the Sudoku puzzles, A-I, in a vertical direction as well.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the reader, the followingterminology will be used. As observed in FIG. 2, the term “layer” or“stack” refers to each of the Sudoku puzzles, A-I. As observed in FIG.3, the term “face” refers to a vertical cross-section of the stack ofSudoku puzzles, A-I, that faces a player. Each face is disposed behindone another like file folders from front to back. As observed in FIG. 4,the term “slice” refers to a vertical cross-section of the stack ofSudoku puzzles, A-I, that is orthogonal to the face cross sections. Thatis, each slice of the Sudoku puzzles, A-I, is disposed beside oneanother like books on a shelf from left to right.

To build a “face” puzzle, one simply puts the rows from each layer oneunder the other to thereby create a grid as observed in FIG. 5. To builda “slice” puzzle, one simply transposes the columns from each layer intoa row and places them one under the other to thereby create a grid asobserved in FIG. 6. As seen in FIG. 7, each layer, face and slicecomprises nine quadrants that also must contain exactly once the numbers1-9. Thus, it will be appreciated that the present disclosure maycomprise nine Sudoku puzzles stacked one on top of another. There arenine layers (each being a regular Sudoku puzzle), nine faces (each beinga regular Sudoku puzzle), and nine slices (each being a regular Sudokupuzzle). Further, each layer, face, and slice comprises nine quadrants.

To solve the stacked arrangement of Sudoku puzzles as shown anddescribed in relation to FIGS. 1-7, each layer must be solved as a“traditional” Sudoku puzzle. In addition, the resulting nine slices andnine faces must also be solved as a “traditional” Sudoku puzzle. Forexample, as observed in FIG. 8, if a “1” is placed into the first squareof the “A” layer, a “1” could not be placed anywhere in the same row,column, or quadrant of the “A” layer. Also, as seen in FIG. 9, for eachlayer, A-I, a “1” could not be placed anywhere in any of the highlightsquares. As seen in FIG. 10, a “1” also could not be placed anywhere inthe same row, column, or quadrant of the corresponding “face” Sudokupuzzle or the corresponding “slice” Sudoku puzzle. These same conceptsare followed to find correct solutions for each of the entries in thelayers, slices and faces. It will be noted that the present disclosuremay be implemented in a computing environment on an electronic device.Further, FIGS. 1-10 may be implemented on a game board.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is depicted an embodiment of athree-dimensional version of Sudoku. This particular version builds offof the stacked Sudoku puzzles, A-I, described above. In particular, aplurality of “cubes,” each comprising a plurality of stacked Sudokupuzzles, are arranged such that the cubes overlap at their corners asshown in FIG. 11. The square in the overlapping regions will contain thesame entry in both of the overlapping cubes.

It will be appreciated that a three-dimensional version of the popularSudoku game is disclosed which may include a game board having aplurality of two-dimensional matrices disposed thereon. Each of thetwo-dimensional matrices may have a plurality of positions for enteringsolutions. The game board may further specify an ordered layering forthe plurality of the two-dimensional matrices such that the plurality oftwo-dimensional matrices may be conceptualized as a three-dimensionalstructure. Correct solutions for the positions of the two-dimensionalmatrices must be satisfied in three-dimensions in accordance with thethree-dimensional structure.

In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features of the presentdisclosure are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purposeof streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to beinterpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed disclosurerequires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than allfeatures of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the followingclaims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description of theDisclosure by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as aseparate embodiment of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are onlyillustrative of the application of the principles of the presentdisclosure. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may bedevised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spiritand scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims are intendedto cover such modifications and arrangements. Thus, while the presentdisclosure has been shown in the drawings and described above withparticularity and detail, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to,variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner ofoperation, assembly and use may be made without departing from theprinciples and concepts set forth herein.

1. A puzzle game comprising: a game board having a plurality of two-dimensional matrices disposed thereon, each of said two-dimensional matrices having a plurality of positions for entering solutions; and said game board further specifying an ordered layering for the plurality of the two-dimensional matrices such that said plurality of two-dimensional matrices may be conceptualized as a three-dimensional structure; wherein correct solutions for the positions of the two-dimensional matrices must be satisfied in three-dimensions in accordance with the three-dimensional structure.
 2. The puzzle game of claim 1, wherein each of the two-dimensional matrices is an n×n matrix.
 3. The puzzle game of claim 2, wherein said n×n matrix is a 9×9 matrix.
 4. The puzzle game of claim 1, wherein the solutions comprise alphanumeric characters.
 5. The puzzle game of claim 1, wherein each of said two-dimensional matrices comprises at least one row, at least one column, and at least one quadrant.
 6. The puzzle game of claim 1, wherein each correct solution of a position must be satisfied in a row, column and quadrant of a layer of the three-dimensional structure.
 7. The puzzle game of claim 6, wherein each correct solution of a position must be further satisfied in a row, column and quadrant of a face of the three-dimensional structure.
 8. The puzzle game of claim 7, wherein each correct solution of a position must be further satisfied in a row, column and quadrant of a slice of the three-dimensional structure.
 9. The puzzle game of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional structure comprises a cube.
 10. The puzzle game of claim 9, wherein said cube comprises layers, faces, and slices.
 11. The puzzle game of claim 10 wherein each of said layers, faces, and slices comprises rows, columns and quadrants.
 12. The puzzle game of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional structure a plurality of partially overlapping cubes.
 13. The puzzle game of claim 12, wherein each of said cubes comprises layers, faces, and slices.
 14. The puzzle game of claim 13 wherein each of said layers, faces, and slices comprises rows, columns and quadrants.
 15. The puzzle game of claim 1, wherein each of said two-dimensional matrices is a Sudoku matrix. 